Frontier Hero: From Receiving a Convicted Woman to Becoming an Emperor for All Time

Lin Shang's expression changed drastically.

Shen Chuxiao grabbed him and pulled him away.

The wooden stake missed its mark, but before they could even react, several arrows shot out from behind the rocks on the left hillside and landed not far from Shen Chuxiao's feet, their fletchings humming.

Sure enough, there was someone there.

"That was close..."

Lin Shang gasped, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

If Shen Chuxiao hadn't been alert, he would probably have already stepped into a trap and been ambushed if he had rashly walked over.

Shen Chuxiao observed for a moment and whispered, "There are at least two people lying in ambush on the left hillside, and another sentry on the right. The trap was set on purpose, not to kill, but to force us to take a specific route, and then to concentrate our fire."

Lin Shang gripped the hilt of his knife tightly: "What should we do?"

"I'll handle the sentries. You cover me."

The two decided not to explore the dark cave, as it might be another trap inside. It was better to remove the nails on the outside first.

Shen Chuxiao leveled the repeating crossbow, took a deep breath, and crouched down to quietly sneak in along the edge of the valley.

His footsteps were so light that they made almost no sound on the snow.

Behind the rocks on the left hillside, two barbarian ambushers were intently watching the valley.

They wore greyish-white animal skin cloaks, blending into the snow and difficult to spot without close inspection.

One of them muttered something in a low voice in a foreign language, roughly meaning "Why haven't they come yet?"

The other person made a shushing gesture.

Just then, Shen Chuxiao had circled around to within twenty paces of their side and rear. He crouched behind a fallen, withered tree, set up his crossbow, and took aim.

"puff."

The crossbow bolt flew silently, striking the barbarian on the left in the back of the neck. The man didn't even utter a sound, collapsing limply onto the rock.

Another barbarian sensed something was wrong and suddenly turned around—

The second crossbow bolt was already upon him, piercing his brow.

Within two breaths, both men were dead.

Hearing the commotion, the sentry on the right hillside poked half his body out to look.

Shen Chuxiao's crossbow had already turned, and the third bolt whistled out, piercing the man's shoulder.

The sentry screamed and tumbled down the hillside, landing in the snow, his scimitar flying from his hand.

Lin Shang strode forward, stomping on his chest with one foot, the blade pressed against his throat: "Don't move!"

The barbarian's face was contorted with rage, and he muttered a string of curses, but dared not struggle any further.

Shen Chuxiao approached, glanced at the two corpses and one prisoner on the ground, and frowned slightly: "That's not right. There are only three people here, but the footprints indicate there were seven or eight."

Lin Shang also noticed something amiss: "Where are the rest of the barbarians?"

Before the words were finished, a sharp whistle rang out from the depths of the valley.

Signals for communication among barbarians.

Immediately afterwards, a series of rapid footsteps came from the direction of the cave ahead, indicating at least five or six people moving very fast.

"They've spotted us."

Shen Chuxiao calmly loaded a new crossbow bolt. "Captain Lin, you take the prisoners and retreat to find cover. I'll handle the front."

Lin Shang did not try to be brave. He dragged the prisoner behind a boulder, tied the prisoner's hands behind his back, and tore off a piece of his clothes to stuff into his mouth.

Ahead, five barbarian warriors rushed out of the cave. The leader was a burly man with a face full of tattoos, holding two axes. He was nearly seven feet tall and had a fierce look like a wild beast.

"You dog of Dajing!" the tattooed, burly man roared in broken Dajing dialect, "You're asking for death!"

The four warriors behind him, each wielding a curved sword, were spread out in a fan shape, clearly well-trained and not a rabble.

Shen Chuxiao advanced instead of retreating.

He raised his crossbow and aimed at the barbarian warrior charging at the front.

"Whoosh!"

The crossbow bolt pierced the air, aiming straight for the throat.

The warrior instinctively swung his sword to parry, actually deflecting the arrow. The barbarians, having fought on the border for years, possessed reaction speeds far exceeding those of ordinary mountain bandits.

However, Shen Chuxiao's crossbow was a repeating crossbow, and it reloaded very quickly.

The second arrow followed immediately. The warrior deflected the first arrow but couldn't block the second one in time. The arrowhead pierced his chest, and he collapsed to the ground with a muffled groan.

Seeing this, the other three warriors dared not charge straight ahead any longer and immediately split up to encircle the enemy.

Shen Chuxiao quickly adjusted his aim and fired his third arrow at a man on the left flank. The barbarian suddenly turned to the side, the arrow grazing his cheek and leaving a bloody mark.

"It didn't go in!" Lin Shang's heart tightened as he watched from behind.

Shen Chuxiao remained expressionless and fired the fourth shot.

This time, he didn't aim for the torso, but instead anticipated the direction the enemy would dodge—the arrow struck the barbarian on the left flank squarely in the knee. The man screamed and fell to the ground, rolling around in the snow clutching his leg.

There are two arrows left.

Two barbarians on the right flank had already charged within ten paces, their scimitars raised high, gleaming coldly.

Shen Chuxiao pulled the trigger.

The fifth arrow pierced a man's abdomen. The man's body arched, his forward momentum undiminished, but he was no longer able to swing his sword.

The sixth arrow—the crossbow bolt slot is empty.

A barbarian warrior rushed forward, slashing down with a powerful, heavy blow.

Shen Chuxiao abandoned the crossbow and turned to the side, the blade grazing his clothes as it missed. From his left sleeve, a porcupine quill slipped out—the hardest one from a porcupine's back, which he had sharpened to the point of being as sharp as a needle. With a close-range thrust, it pierced straight into the opponent's eye socket.

"ah--!"

The barbarian warrior covered his face and screamed as he retreated, blood gushing from between his fingers.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Chuxiao snatched the curved knife from his hand, and with a backhand slash, cut his throat.

Within three breaths, of the five barbarian warriors, three were dead, one was wounded, and one was crippled.

Seeing his men all killed, the tattooed, burly man's eyes widened in fury. He roared, swung both axes, and charged at Shen Chuxiao.

Shen Chuxiao hadn't even had time to adjust his grip on the scimitar he had just seized, so he could only parry with the blade held horizontally.

"clang!"

The iron axe struck the blade, sparks flying. Shen Chuxiao felt an immense force come from the blade, and the curved sword almost slipped from his hand—this strong man's strength far surpassed that of the warriors from before.

The burly man gave him no chance to catch his breath, and immediately followed up with a chop of his axe.

Shen Chuxiao dodged to the side, and the axe blade struck the stone beside him, sending shards of stone flying.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The burly man swung his axe three times in quick succession, each blow heavier than the last.

Shen Chuxiao staggered back three steps, his tiger's mouth already cracked, blood flowing down the hilt of his sword. Seeing the situation was dire, Lin Shang rushed out from behind the boulder, slashing at the burly man from the side with his sword.

Sensing the danger, the burly man swung his axe in his right hand to parry, knocking Lin Shang and his knife back several steps.

Lin Shang steadied himself and charged forward again, forming a pincer attack with Shen Chuxiao.

The burly man fought two opponents single-handedly, showing no signs of weakness. He wielded his double axes like wheels, forcing the two men to keep them at bay.

"His weakness is in his lower body!" Shen Chuxiao shouted.

Lin Shang understood, feinted a knife to distract the burly man, then ducked down and swept his leg out, aiming for the man's knee.

The burly man raised his leg to dodge, but this shifted his center of gravity, causing a slight opening in the rhythm of his double axes.

Right now.

Shen Chuxiao lunged forward, his curved blade aimed straight for the burly man's abdomen. The burly man pressed down with both axes, locking the blade in place—but he forgot that Shen Chuxiao also had a crossbow bolt in his right hand.

He had just pulled it from the corpse and had been clutching it in his palm.

Shen Chuxiao loosened the knife handle with his left hand and suddenly thrust the crossbow bolt into the burly man's neck.

The arrowhead pierced the flesh and blood, penetrating the trachea.

The burly man's eyes widened, and he let out a hissing sound as he dropped his axes and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

On the snow, six barbarian corpses lay scattered about, their blood staining the white snow a dark red.

Lin Shang slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

He glanced down at the scrapes on his shoulder, from when he triggered the trap and was scratched by a wooden stake, then looked up at the barbarian corpses scattered on the ground, his voice trembling slightly: "You... saved my life."

Shen Chuxiao pulled out the crossbow bolt, wiped the blood off the corpse, and said calmly, "We're even."

"What do you mean, even?"

"You spared my life by not attacking me in the village."

Lin Shang was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, the sound echoing through the mountains.

After laughing, he stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and looked at Shen Chuxiao seriously: "I will remember this favor. I will report it to the general truthfully when I get back."

Shen Chuxiao looked at the barbarian prisoner who had been subdued, the one who had rolled down the hillside. He was now bound hand and foot by Lin Shang, his mouth stuffed with a rag, and his eyes were full of terror.

"What are your plans to do with this person?"

"Take him back and hand him over to the general for personal interrogation." Lin Shang lifted the barbarian up and checked the ropes again. "These barbarians are very stubborn, but the army has its own ways of prying them open."

Shen Chuxiao glanced at the cave: "Aren't we going in to search?"

At first, there were people talking inside.

Lin Shang shook his head: "There might not be any more clues inside the cave. The barbarian weapons found in Zhou Hu's house already speak for themselves. This prisoner is the key. Let's go back and report first. The general will decide on the follow-up investigation. If we rush into the cave, there might be an ambush inside. We might not be able to escape unscathed."

Shen Chuxiao nodded.

Lin Shang's judgment was correct. Although they had won the battle just now, they had run out of crossbow bolts and he had also injured his hand. If they were to fight another tough battle, the outcome would be uncertain.

Regardless of the actual situation inside the cave, no one has come out since the start of the fight, so the sounds heard earlier were most likely a ruse by the barbarian envoy.

Lin Shang pulled a heavy cloth bag from his pocket and tossed it to Shen Chuxiao: "Take this."

Shen Chuxiao caught it, weighed it in his hand, and found it contained silver.

"Fifty taels." Lin Shang patted the snow off his clothes. "You assisted the border troops in killing the barbarian scouts and saved the imperial officer. You are rewarded with silver according to your military merit. This is the rule, so don't refuse."

Shen Chuxiao, of course, wouldn't be polite.

As the saying goes, you have to get paid for working for someone else, especially since you saved Captain Lin Shang's life. If you calculate it that way, it's worth far more than fifty taels of silver.

However, this money could solve his and Wang Yilu's current predicament.

The two men were escorting the prisoners.

It was dusk when we returned to Qingshi Village.

Lin Shang ordered the Zhou Hu family's house to be sealed off, all the barbarian weapons to be stored away, and ordered two personal guards to keep a close watch on the prisoners, who rested in the courtyard overnight.

When Wang Yilu saw Shen Chuxiao covered in blood, he turned pale with fright.

Shen Chuxiao said a few words that it wasn't his blood, and she felt a little relieved. She quietly brought him hot water to wash himself.

The next morning, Lin Shang, carrying the seized evidence and the prisoners, returned to Ling Shuang Pass to report back.

Shen Chuxiao wanted to go with him, but Lin Shang waved his hand and said, "Don't go yet. I'll report to the general first. If he needs your testimony, I'll summon you. Your going will only attract attention. Those border soldiers' brothers-in-law have connections in the army and know what you look like, which won't do you any good."

Shen Chuxiao thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Watching Lin Shang and his group disappear at the end of the dirt road at the village entrance, Shen Chuxiao turned around and went back into the courtyard.

Wang Yilu was mending his clothes, which had been torn in the battle the day before. When she saw him come in, she looked up and asked softly, "Husband, is that Captain Lin... trustworthy?"

Shen Chuxiao sat down beside her and remained silent for a moment.

"Three parts are believable."

"What about the remaining seven points?"

"Rely on yourself." Shen Chuxiao looked at the dark mountains in the distance. "In this world, you can't rely on anyone."

He paused.

He added, "However, the fifty taels of silver are real."